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Matteo Berrettini became the first Italian to advance to a Wimbledon singles final with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4 victory against Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the semifinals on Friday.
It also is the first Grand Slam final berth for Berrettini, the seventh seed, who put on an impressive display of power against 14th-seeded Hurkacz.
The 25-year-old Italian hit 22 aces and won 86 percent of points (56 of 65) on his first serve. He capitalized on six of his 10 break opportunities — Hurkacz didn’t break his opponent’s serve — and hit 60 winners to 18 unforced errors.
“I have no words, really, just thanks. I need a couple of hours to understand what happened,” Berrettini said on court after his win. “I played a great match. I enjoyed the crowd, my family and whole team are there. I think I never dreamed about this, because it was too much for a dream. I am so happy.”
In Sunday’s final, Berrettini will face the winner of the other semifinal match between No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the 10th seed.
If Berrettini is victorious Sunday, he will be the first Italian man to win a Grand Slam since 1976, when Adriano Panatta won the French Open. Berrettini has five career wins and two this season.
Berrettini’s first ATP 500 win came in mid-June at the cinch Championships at the Queen’s Club in London.
Hurkacz defeated No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and No. 6 Roger Federer of Switzerland to reach the semifinals.
The only bump in the road for Berrettini during the two-hour, 36-minute semifinal came in the third-set tiebreaker when he lost the point on his first two serves and couldn’t recover from a 4-0 deficit.
“When you play at this level everything has to be … I am trying to be the best at everything, but after the third set I was feeling I deserved to win it but lost it,” Berrettini said. “I said, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ I was feeling the stronger player and that’s what I said to myself, and eventually it paid off.”
–Field Level Media